What a joy to receive a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers which bring a touch of cheerfulness to the living room table. Only problem: the lifespan of these flowers is often very limited. If you don’t take care of them properly, they can quickly wither. To keep you in a good mood, here are some easy-to-follow expert tips that will help you prolong the freshness of cut flowers.
Whatever the room in the house, installing a well-flowered vase immediately adds a special aura to the decoration. Not to mention the very pleasant scent that fills the place and warms our hearts. So much so that we are already afraid of seeing these flowers wilt too quickly. To preserve the luxuriant effect of your bouquet, there is already a common mistake to avoid making.
Don’t keep your flowers next to fruit anymore!
No, flowers and fruits don’t always go well together! Experts agree that you should never let your flowers bloom alongside certain fruits, such as bananas, pears and apples. Indeed, as these varieties are in the process of maturing, they risk affecting the flowering process, because of the ethylene gas they produce. The aging of the petals will then be premature. So don’t get into the habit of combining them together. Although it is tempting to place a fruit platter on the living room table to spoil your guests. In this case, immediately remember to move your vase away!
Vinegar and sugar
This is a great moment of joy: you come home and you immediately admire these fresh and fragrant flowers which give a real luxuriant character to the room. However, the sad reality is that they are fading day by day. To delay the doom, where their petals will begin to fall, try this very ingenious trick from florists to make your flowers last longer.
Mix two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and two tablespoons of sugar in the clean water in the vase before placing your flowers in it. Don’t forget to change this water every day: your flowers will remain beautiful, healthy and shimmering. At least for a while!
Do not use tap water
Golden rule: under no circumstances use tap water for the flowers in the vase. This is the advice of the creative director of Maison Dadoo. “ When preparing water for flowers, it is recommended to let it clear for a few hours, because tap water contains chlorine and fluoride ,” he explains. So, distilled water is much better suited to keeping cut flowers fresh.
Alcohol
The secret to making them last longer is to minimize the growth of bacteria in the water. To do this, add a few drops of vodka (or any clear alcoholic drink) and a teaspoon of sugar to the water in the vase . Alcohol will thus have an antibacterial action. Here again, it is advisable to change the water daily by pouring the same quantities of vodka and sugar into it again.
In any season, you like to decorate your interior with bouquets of hyacinths, freesias, tulips or peonies. But the petals start to fall as the days go by. “ If you want these flowers to stay fresh as long as possible, you must take into account certain important parameters: the container in which you put them, the water you use, the location, the light…” explains Ruxandra Cârstea, from Maison Dadoo. And remember: “ Flowers like clean water.” A lot. This is precisely why it is advisable to replace the water in the vase as often as possible, at least once every two days ,” reveals the expert.
